Interview the user relentlessly about a plan or design. Use when the user wants to stress-test a plan before building, or uses any 'grill' trigger phrases.

2026-06-222

improve-code

norlanp/dotfiles

Surface deepening opportunities in a codebase — shallow modules, seam leaks, missing locality — and grill through whichever one you pick. Architecture-pattern aware (monolith / distributed / serverless).

2026-06-222

docs

norlanp/dotfiles

Reconcile and validate all documents in the project's docs/ directory

2026-06-092

audit

norlanp/dotfiles

Full-project code audit workflow: audit then fix

2026-05-162

debug

norlanp/dotfiles

Systematic root cause analysis. No fixes without investigation

2026-05-042

engineer

norlanp/dotfiles

Principal Engineer persona. Production-first technical judgment

2026-04-272

name	ui-distill
description	Strip design to essence. Remove unnecessary complexity

UI Distill

/ui-distill [target] - Strip design to essence. Remove unnecessary complexity, declutter, reduce noise. Simplicity with power.

Flow

Assess complexity sources:
- Too many elements competing
- Excessive variation (colors, fonts, sizes)
- Information overload (everything visible at once)
- Visual noise (borders, shadows, decorations without purpose)
- Confusing hierarchy
- Feature creep
Find the essence:
- Primary user goal (should be ONE)
- What's truly necessary vs nice-to-have
- What can be removed, hidden, or combined
- 20% that delivers 80% of value
Simplify systematically

Simplification Dimensions

Information Architecture

Remove secondary actions and redundant info
Progressive disclosure (hide complexity behind entry points)
Combine related actions
ONE primary action, few secondary, rest tertiary/hidden
Remove redundancy

Visual

Reduce to 1-2 colors + neutrals
One font family, 3-4 sizes, 2-3 weights
Remove decorative borders, shadows, backgrounds
Flatten structure — never nest cards inside cards
Remove unnecessary cards (spacing creates grouping naturally)
One consistent spacing scale

Layout

Linear flow over complex grids
Remove sidebars (move inline or hide)
Full-width over multi-column where possible
Generous white space

Interaction

Fewer buttons, fewer options, clearer path
Smart defaults (automate common choices)
Inline editing over modal flows
Remove steps from flows
ONE obvious CTA

Content

Cut copy in half, then half again
Active voice ("Save changes" not "Changes will be saved")
Remove jargon, hedging, redundant copy
Scannable structure

Code

Remove dead CSS, unused components, orphaned files
Flatten component trees
Consolidate styles
Reduce component variants

NEVER

Remove necessary functionality (simplicity ≠ feature-less)
Sacrifice accessibility for simplicity
Make things so simple they're unclear (mystery ≠ minimalism)
Remove information users need for decisions
Eliminate hierarchy entirely
Oversimplify complex domains